vorgehenvsvorlegenTell them apart

Which to use

“vorgehen” and “vorlegen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,006
“vorgehen” frequency rank
#12,827
“vorlegen” frequency rank
15833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorgehen vorlegen
Definition sich nach vorne bewegen etwas herausholen und öffentlich präsentieren

Where the eye mixes vorgehen and vorlegen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. vorgehen and vorlegen follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
vorgehen
8 ch
vorlegen

Look-alike desk: vorgehen vs vorlegen

A purely visual mix-up. vorgehen ([ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən]) and vorlegen ([ˈfoːɐ̯ˌleːɡn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorgehen is recorded at frequency rank #3,006, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən]. vorlegen is at rank #12,827, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌleːɡn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 15833, this pair ranks #1,940,791 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vorgehen vs vorlegen

Shared letters: egnorv. Private to "vorgehen": h. Private to "vorlegen": l.

"vorgehen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "vorlegen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vorgehen ← ovrgehen · vogrehen · voreghen · vorgeehn · vorgehenn · vorgehhen · vorgehne · vorggehen
  • vorlegen ← ovrlegen · volregen · vorelgen · vorleegn · vorlegenn · vorleggen · vorlegne · vorlgeen

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vorgehen" and "vorlegen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfoːɐ̯ˌɡeːən] versus [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌleːɡn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "vorgehen" or "vorlegen" show up more?
"vorgehen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,006 in our German list, against #12,827 for "vorlegen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "vorgehen" and "vorlegen" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vorgehen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vorlegen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,940,791 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorgehen" and "vorlegen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vorgelegen vs vorlegen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,940,791 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list